The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the preparation of fuel slurries used in gasification processes, and more specifically to increasing the temperature of fuel slurries.
Synthesis gas or “syngas” is a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2), and may also be associated with other components, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), water (H2O), and others. Syngas has a number of uses, such as in power generation, steam generation, heat generation, substitute natural gas (SNG) production, as well as chemical synthesis. Syngas can be produced using gasification processes, which utilize a solid, liquid, and/or gaseous carbonaceous fuel source such as coal, coke, oil, and/or biomass, and/or natural gas to react with oxygen (O2) to produce the syngas within a gasifier. While certain liquid and gaseous carbonaceous fuels may be provided to the gasifier directly, solid carbonaceous fuel sources are often provided to the gasifier as a fuel slurry, where the solid fuel is dispersed within a liquid, such as water. The liquid is used to facilitate flow of the solid fuel into the gasifier as well as to facilitate dispersal of the solid fuel within the gasifier, for example to increase gasification efficiency.